Due to the unexpected release of Be’lakor Joe is going to explore what some of the new options from Teclis mean for list building going forward

Nurgle daemons have definitely received a buff in this Broken Realms book. Will it push them into the top tier? Probably not. But, they are definitely going to be a gatekeeper now. Possible  to go 4/1 with a good list and good player, and if you hit armies that can’t push their own damage across the board you can definitely win more.

Specific Updates

Sloppity Bilepiper: 

• Disease of Mirth: lost “Daisy Chaining” from 7” but is now wholly within 14”
• Jolly Gutpipes: Complete redesign. Now instead of reroll failed charge rolls and hit rolls of 1 for friendly hit rolls of 1 for Great Unclean Ones within 7”, they affect any friendly Nurgle daemons wholly within 14”:
  • They get +1 attack.
  • Unmodified 6’s to hit from attacks deal mortals in addition.
  • Enemy models within 3” of said Nurgle daemons, cannot pile in closer to the Nurgle daemons.
• +60 points

Spolpox Scrivener: 

• Lost 1 from their armor. (now a 5+)
• Keep counting, I’m watching you: Similar daisy chain nerf, but now instead of only affecting Plaguebearer units, they affect all keyworded Plaguebearer units. And instead of rerolling 1’s to hit and charge rolls, they do either:
  • Add 1 to all melee attack profiles.
  • Improve rend characteristic by 1 for melee weapons.
  • Add 1 to the save rolls.
• +50 points

Beasts of Nurgle: 

• Weapon profiles rearranged and renamed. Lost Range 2” on any of them, gained a total of 3 attacks, kept d6 attacks. All profiles are 4+ hit & 3+ wound, gained a rend and extra damage on the 4 attack weapon.
• Attention Seekers ability: gained fly when retreating. That’s good.
• Lost “locus of Virulence”, gained “Pestilent Battering Rams”: 2+ to deal d3 impact mortals to every unit within 1” after a successful charge move per beast that makes it that close.
• +1 wound.
• +50 points

Broken Realms Battalion: 

Invidian Plaguehost: 

•  X1 of each of the revamped heroes.  (they become named characters.)
• X2 Plaguebearer units. (not keyword, so strictly the Plaguebearer warscroll.)

Abilities:

• Add an additional +1 to the bravery bubble the Sloppity Bilepiper in the battalion, to units in the battalion in range, on top of the Disease of Mirth ability.
• The first time a Plaguebearer unit from this battalion dies, set up another unit of 10 Plaguebearers in your territory, 6” from the table edge, and 9” away from opponents. 
• 120 points.

What does this mean?

So, generic nurgle daemons now have some play. Sloppity and Spoilpox now actually do something, vs the nothing they used to do, but you are paying for it. Beasts of Nurgle are little bouncy balls of mortal wounds, which is ok but again, you’re paying for it. Also, the battalion isn’t terrible. It is more or less an extra unit of Plaguebearers for 10 more points, that includes less drops for your army, and an extra relic and command point. 

1. Now that these heroes do something, by focusing on Plaguebearers and these heroes actually can put some hurt down range.
2. You take a Great Unclean One with a bell, for +3 to movement. (movement 7 Plaguebearers)
3. Your tree goes in the middle of the table to almost always give you run and charge. (up to movement 13)
4. Roll the wheel or cast the spell to move the wheel to +2 move. (now, movement 15!)
5. Obviously if you can get Chronomatic Cogs off, that’s an option as well.

Once you got them in there?

1. Glotkin and Scrivner can each give the unit an extra attack.
2. Blades of Putrifaction can give them 6+’s to hit deal mortal wounds.
3. Sloppity can give either another attack or an additional mortal wound on unmodified 6’s to hit..

So, with the full 30 Plaguebearers, you got 90 attacks doing x2 mortals for each 6 to hit + normal damage on a potential movement value of 17 with +2 to charge. As long as you stay in that 14” bubble from Spoilpox and Sloppity… Pretty gross, especially since if this is in one of the new Nurgle Cults from Wrath of the Everchosen: Munificent Wanderers. In combat, that unit is -2 from shooting attacks that target that unit of 30, subtract 1 from hit rolls targetting them in combat, and subtract 1 from the rend of attacks that target the. Their locus also grants rerolling 1’s for saves and of course disgustingly resilient. And bravery 12? For reasons. They HATE Terrorgheists screaming at them I guess. They learned how to cover their ears.

Now, all of this is 1600 points and requires at least 1-2 spells to go off, if you happen to get 3 of them off, you’ll get those 30 plaguebearers on 2 wounds per model, that’s 60 wounds. Again, that is 1600 points and you still need another battleline unit.

Glotkin
Great Unclean One: with Bell
Spoilpox
Sloppity
X30 Plaguebearers

X10 Plaguebearers
Invidian Warhost
Chronomatic cogs
-
1600/2000

A very 1 trick pony. But that is a pretty impressive hammer/anvil if it all works out. Problem in this meta is keeping all the gears in place on this train, but if you can, it might have gas.

Or another cheaper variant:

Spoilpox
Sloppity

Spoilpox
Sloppity

X30 Plaguebearers

X30 Plaguebearers

X10 Plaguebearers
Invidian Warhost
-

1410/2000

Gives you x2 mini Plaguebearer bombs… Just some thoughts, and a lot more room to play around with other stuff.

Next, we’ll look at Cities of Sigmar and the potential in the new Settler’s Gain subfaction. If you want some personalized listbuilding advice check out JoeK on Patreon. Have any other topics you’d like to see us explore? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.